RCMP DENY CANADA DUMPING 'EXTREME ECSTASY' INTO U.S. MARKET

VANCOUVER (CP) - The head of the RCMP's national drug branch is
debunking claims by the U.S. drug czar, who claims organized crime
rings in Canada are dumping dangerous, methamphetamine-laced "extreme
ecstasy" into his country.

Supt. Paul Nadeau said he doesn't know why John Walters, of the White
House Office of National Drug Control Policy, would make such
statements in a widely distributed news release without checking
facts with Canadian officials.

"I shook my head when I read the release that they put out," said
Nadeau, who's never heard of extreme ecstasy.

"That term is unknown to us, certainly in Canada, and I can tell you
that I've spoken to law enforcement people in the U.S. and they've
never heard of it either so it would appear that it's a term that
somebody came up with in a boardroom in Washington, D.C."

The release has generated huge media buzz in the U.S., with some news
outlets using names such as "turbo-charged ecstasy," which is
supposedly flowing across the border from Canada.

In the release, Walters warns public health and safety leaders that
more than 55 per cent of ecstasy samples seized in the U.S. last year
contained meth, a stimulant that affects the central nervous system.

"This extreme ecstasy is a disturbing development in what has been
one of the most significant international achievements against the
illicit drug trade," Walters said.

"Cutting their product with less expensive methamphetamine boosts
profits for Canadian ecstasy producers, likely increases the
addictive potential of their product and effectively gives a
dangerous 'facelift' to a designer drug that had fallen out of
fashion with young American drug users."

Nadeau said there's nothing new about ecstasy - the so-called love
drug that gained popularity during the 1990s rave scene - being laced
with methamphetamine or other stimulants and that it's been happening
for the last decade.